Mr. Sewsitall makes an awning

As long as I was going to have the sewing equipment out and strewn all over the house, I figured I should make an awning for Puddleduck. The cockpit gets really hot during the days when you're sitting at anchor. I figured a nice white awning would look good, and keep the boat cooler. Here are the first two panels rolled for seaming. I used 60" wide Sunbrella canvas in "natural" color. I could have made a bimini, which would have provided shade while sailing as well, but the bimin kits start at about 450 bucks, and I don't have that right now.



I started out working in my bedroom, but as soon as I looked around, I knew that wouldn't be enough space. I moved to the living room (the first picture, above). I quickly ran out of space there, and had to move to the family room. Immediately above, you can see the fabric laid out in the family room. All the seaming is done, including the swallowtails, but nothing has been trimmed yet.



This is Molly helping me mark the cut and sew-to lines on the edges.



Here's the awning in it's final shape, with the edges cut away. Don Casey recommends, in his book "Good Old Boat," that for a tent awning you measure from the boom to the lifelines, and then subtract 4 inches. I don't think that's good advice, because my awning ended up being a little short on the sides, which lets the edge sag towards the cockpit and funnel rain into it. I think I would prefer the awning go all the way to the lifeline.

These are the double reinforcement patches for the corners and sides where the grommets will be installed. You can also see the 3/8 inch boltrope for the edge.
This is the mitered corner, after the reinforcement patches have been installed. The mitering helps reduce the number of layers you have to punch through with your machine (or your palm).

Finally, here I am putting the grommets in, after the boltrope is sewn into the edge hem. Of course, I cleverly forgot to take a picture of Puddleduck with the awning actually in place. It did work out fairly well. It was definitely good to have at the anchorage! I'd like to have side seams, and I'd like to have the boat's name on the edges. That's a project for later, though!